Wire-rolling mill



(No Model.) J. REESE.

WIRE ROLLING MILL. I

No. 269,464. Patented De0.19, 1882 ILFIHBSSEE N4 FEIERS. Pholo-Lilhagnphor. Wunin mn.

UNITED STATES PATENT l 'rrrca.

JACOB REESE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

WIRE-ROLLING MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,464, dated December 19, 1882.

Application filed June 7, 1882. No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I,JAGOB REESE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsyl- Vania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Duplex Rod-Trains for Rolling Metals; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled inthe art to make and use the same, reference being had to the drawings which form a part thereof.

This improvement is specially designed for the production of No. 4=or No. 5 iron or steel rods V for the manufacture of wire. Such rods are now rolled on two different kinds of trains. In common practice the rods are rolled from an inch and one-half billet on a three-high train, in which the rolls are all on the same horizon tal line. The billet receives from eleven to fitteen passes, and is mostly passed from one groove to the other by manual labor. The other method is by the use of a continuous train in whicha series of pairs of rolls are placed in front of each other, so that the metal may pass direct from one pair into the next adjoining pair of rolls, and be thus reduced without. the aid of manual labor. There are serious difficulties attending both of these methods of rolling rods. The labor employed in the use of the three-high trains must be expert. It is expensive,and often the train must be stopped because of the sickness or indisposition of one man to work, and the time required to reduce the blank is so long that it is so cold when finished that it can be drawn but little before annealing. In the practice of the continuous train, while it works most excellently on the first passes, I find great difficulty in regulating the draft of the last five pairs of rolls, so as to take the blank at theexact speed that it is delivered to them, and when any pair of rolls take the metal too rapidly the blank is pulled apart and comes out of the rolls in pieces, and if either pair of rolls do not take the metal as rapidly as delivered to it the blank buckles and clogs the guides and stops the train. Now,in practice I have discovered that the greatest trouble with the three-high train is in the first seven or eight passes, and the greatest trouble with the continuous train is'in the last five passes. For these reasons I have been induced to construct my duplex rod-train, in which I have utilized what is best in both the continuous and the three-high trains, and have left out all that has been troublesome in both.

Figure 1 shows a ground plan of the rolls of my duplex rod-train. Fig. 2 shows a sectional view of the shifting arrangement for moving the guide-trough. Fig. 3 is anend section of the repeating guide-trough.

.In the construction of'my duplex rod-train I use a continuous train composed of eight or more pairs of rolls placed in front'of each other. The number ofpairs of rolls in this train will depend on the size of the billet to be used and the number of passes to be made after the blank leaves the continuous train. In pract-ice on a billet one and one-half inch square I find eight passes in the continuous train to be .most desirable. The rolls in this continuous train may be all of one diameter, or they may be of various diameters; but whatever the diameters may be, each respective pair of rolls must be so speeded as to take the blank as fast as delivered toit by the next preceding pairs ofrolls. In front of the continuous train, ata distance of fifty feet, (more or le ss,)I place a threehigh train of rolls of ordinary construction, the center set of which are on a direct line with the continuous train, and on each side and in line with the center rolls are four or more sets of three-high rolls, arranged end to end, so that the metal may elongate freely between the passes. This I do because it is impossible to regulate the draft of one pair of rolls to take the metal properly from another pair when the rod is so small. These nine sets of three-high rolls may all be driven by I the sameengine; but I prefer to drive four sets with one engine and five sets with another engine. high rolls or two-high rolls, with a spindle in place of the third rolls, as the blank is worked one way through the two upper rolls and in the other direction through the two lower rolls. The train is provided with repeating guidetrough for the purpose of directing the blank from its passage out of one pair of rolls into the adjoining pair of rolls.

I will now describe the arrangement, con- This three-high train may have three-- struction, and practice more minutely, so as to explain the advantages of my invention more fully.

The rolls a b c d e fg h being ten inches in diameter and provided with bottom rolls of the same size, and so arranged as to make a re duction of twenty-five per cent. of the areaof the metal as it passes through each pair of rolls, such reduction will cause the blank to pass out of each pair of rolls one-fourth quicker than it will pass into any other pair of rolls running at the same speed. Hence it is neccssary to increase the speed of each succeeding pair of rolls equal to the decreased area produced by the preceding pair of rolls. The surface-speed required by the roll a is one hundred and seventy-eight, 1) two hundred and twenty-two, 0 two hundred and seventy-eight, d three hundred and forty-eight, 0 four hundred and thirty-five,ffive hundred and fortyfour, g six hundred and eighty, h eight hundred and fifty feet, per minute; and if the rolls are all ten inches in diameter, then a will have seventy-one, b eighty-nine, 0 one hundred and eleven, at one hundred and thirty-nine, a one hundred and seventy-four,ftwo hundred and uineteen,'g two hundred and seventy-two, and h three hundred and forty revolutions per minute. Thus the blank will pass out of the continuous train at a velocity of eight hundred and fifty feet per minute. The rollsin thethreehigh train havethe following diameter: 'i, eight inches;jj, nine inches; his 1 l m m, ten inches. The speed of the train beingfive hundred revolutions per minute, and the rolls making a reduction of twenty-five per cent. in the area of the blank, the metal will pass into the rolls '1? at eight hundred, out of t at ten hundred, into j at eight hundred and forty-four, out ofjj at eleven hundred and twenty-five, into 70 at nine hundred and thirty-eight, out of 70 76 at twelve hundred and fifty,into l lat nine hundred and thirty-eight, out of l l at twelve hundred and fifty, into at m at nine hundred and thirty-eight, out of same at twelve hundred and fifty feet per minute The metal blank is guided from rolls h to t by a guide-trough, n n. pivoted so as to permit the end n to be moved Irom one groove of roll 1' to the other. There are also guiding-troughs marked respectively 0 opp q q 1'1". In Fig. 2 ran-gement for shifting trough n n from one groove to the other. Fig. 3 shows an end view of the guiding-troughs 0 0'19 1) q q r 1'. These troughs are curved or of a semi-annular flanged form, as shown in the drawings, and are arranged one to each pass of the rodfinishing train throughout the entire train.

When the train is in working order, one and one-half inch billets, weighing-one hund red pounds, (more or less,) are heated and placed in the rolls marked a,when they are drawn through I) c d cfg, and pass out of h at a velocity of eight hundred and fifty feet perminute. Trough n n being adjusted, the rod passes into i at The end marked it is is shown the ar-' eight hundred feet per minute, which allows for a little swag of the blank in the trough. The blank passes out of rollst'at ten hundred feet, and is guided by trough 0 into rollsj; but as these rolls only take eight hundred and fortyfour feet per minute the excess of metal causes the blank to leap over the flange of trough 0 and formin-theshapeofthedottedlines. Theblank passes through rollsj, around gnidep, into rolls it, around trough q, into rolls l, around trough 7', into rolls m, and out at a speed of twelve hundred and fit'ty feet per minute, in the direction of the dotted arrow. At the instant the blank has leftthe roll it another billet is placed in at a, and by the time the first blank has passed through roll 2' to the left the trough n is moved to the right by means of lever s, and the second blank is turned to the right by troughs op q r, and passes out, in a finished state, at the rate of twelve hundred and fifty feet per minute, in the direction of the dotted arrow. By this arrangement I am enabled to rough down the blanks in the continuous train as rapidly as they can be worked both ways in the finishing three-high train, which enables me to get out a production of two thousand five hundred feet of No. 4 or No. 5 wire-rods per minute, which equals an output in twenty hours'of two hundred and sixty-five thousand seven hundred and seventy pounds No. 5 or three hundred and thirty-nine thousand one hundred pounds of No. 4 rods, leaving four hours per day for loss of time in rolling; and by this manner of rolling the rods are delivered from the rolls m m at a much hotter temperature than rods can be delivered by the old practice, which is a great advantage, as the rods, when finishe r l at a comparatively high temperature, are much softer, and can be drawn nearly double the number of gages before annealing, than those which are rolled at a much lower temperature.

I should state that the blank, while passing from each pair of rolls to the next adjoining, is caused to jump the guiding-trough, or repeaters, as they are sometimes called, and assume the position of the dotted lines.

I have not shown the housings in which the rolls are mounted, nor the engines or gearing by which the rolls are driven, as I make no claim on any special arrangement or construction of such devices, my invention consisting in the arrangement of the rolls and guiding. troughs.

WhatIclaim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. A plant for rolling wire rods, consisting of a continuous train, a rod-finishing train arranged in single passes end to end and in front of the continuous-traiu,,and an interposed guide-trough for conducting the blank from the continuous rolls to the finishing-train, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A plant for rolling wire rods,'consisting of a continuous train, a rod-finishing train arranged in single passes end to end and in front of the continuous train, and a series of I 5 specified.

4. A plant for rolling wire rods, consisting otia continnoustrain, two rod-finishing trains arranged in front of the continuous train, an interposed guide-trough, and shifting mechanism for moving the guide-trough, whereby the blanks may be guided alternately into one or the other finishing-train, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

J AOOB REESE,

Witnesses FRANK M. REESE, H. L. REESE. 

